Messy People Unite!

Just as I was about to start my annual push to get organized, a friend sent me an article from The New York Times that discusses a radical new concept: It's OK to be messy. Quoting psychologists and the authors of a new book A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder , the writer suggests that obsessive neatness actually causes problems of its own, including broken relationships, wasted money, public humiliation and family discord.

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Messy people say there are plenty of benefits to their "live and let live" approach. For one thing, they spend less time organizing so they have more time to do what they want. But the best part, says the author, is that messy people may actually be more productive:

" …moderately disorganized people can be more resilient, more creative and more effective than highly organized ones."

I can't tell you what a weight was lifted off my shoulders. For years, I've tried every organizing technique known to man—tickler files, color coding, vertical organizers and many more—and I always revert back to the same habit: I put stuff in piles. This may not be the best-looking system in the world, but I can find anything in my house or office within three minutes.

That said, I'm not sure I want to shake my dream of getting organized one day. In fact, I just went to the Container Store and bought some clear plastic bins. They may never contain what they were meant to, but the one thing they hold is something this unorganized person can't let go of – hope.